It is known to provide zones of rollers along a roller conveyor, where each zone includes a driven roller and/or a plurality of idler or freely rotating rollers. The driven roller is typically operable to drive the idler rollers via a plurality of O-rings connecting each roller to an adjacent roller in the zone. Each zone may be independently operable to accumulate articles on a particular zone or zones, or to generally continuously convey articles along the zones of the roller conveyor. However, such roller conveyors are not suitable for certain applications where belt conveyors are desired, such as for conveying small articles which may fall between the rollers, for conveying damaged articles or articles with loose parts that may tend to become entangled with individual rollers, or for applications where a belt conveyor may be required or desired for other reasons. Also, due to relatively low friction between typical rollers and the articles being conveyed thereon, such roller conveyors are not suitable for providing accumulation of articles along an inclined or declined section of the roller conveyor.